1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to dental appliances, and more particularly to dental articulators.
2. Background Art
A dental articulator is a device for mounting casts or models of a patient's upper and lower jaws, and for simulating the occlusion of the patient's jaws. Dental articulators are used by dental laboratory technicians to construct dental prostheses, such as dentures, crowns, bridges, etc. They are also used by dentists and dental schools for educational and demonstration purposes. Whatever the application, these devices are regularly held in the operator's hand for examination and/or adjustment of the casts. For example, a laboratory technician may typically handle an articulator for two or two-and-a-half hours during the process of setting up dentures. Such extensive handling of the articulator usually leads to fatigue, causing the operator to put the device down a number of times during a procedure. This obviously prolongs the procedure, making the operator less productive than if he or she could have completed the procedure without interruptions. In addition to fatigue, such extensive handling of articulators has lead to more permanent conditions, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Notwithstanding the extensive handling requirements of dental articulators, the designers of such devices have, heretofore, essentially ignored the consequences stemming from such handling. It is believed that such inattention has been due to the designers' preoccupation with trying to duplicate or approximate the anatomy of the jaws in the articulator. A reading of many prior patents disclosing articulators seems to supports such a belief. Anatomical considerations are not always consistent with ergonomic considerations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,237,050 to Franwick, U.S. Pat. No. 2,262,574 to Chott, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,233 to Shmukler et al., all demonstrate an effort to simulate the anatomy of the jaws. However, the resulting designs are obviously not ergonomically optimized for extensive handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,182 to Newberry and certain product literature by Snap-Art Precision Dental Products, El Dorado Hills, Calif., disclose articulators, which are examples of some effort to deviate from the traditional anatomical designs and provide some ergonomic attributes to an articulator. Both examples include a single post which may be grasped by the operator during her work. However, in both examples, the post is generally straight, and thus would not conform, at least in the vertical dimension, to the curvature of the operator's palm. In addition, the post configuration requires the fingers to flex (or wrap) around the post to effectively secure the articulator in the hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,733 to Crosland (the same inventor as named herein) discloses a new type of articulator, which has been made known to the public by way of printed publication since 1996. This articulator also includes a post. One of the novel aspects of this articulator is that the position of the post is adjustable in different directions. The adjustable post is partially enclosed in a collar 48, which may be grasped by the operator when handling the articulator. The rear surface of the collar is, however, flat, and thus does not conform to the curvature of the operator's palm. As a result of Mr. Crosland's efforts to improve upon this articulator, the present invention was made.